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Tuesday, 20 May 2014

Indecision is debilitating; it feeds
upon itself; it is, one might almost say, habit-forming. Not only that, but it
is contagious; it transmits itself to others.

H.A.Hopf

Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has
arrived, stop thinking and go in.

Napoleon Bonaparte

There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing
is habitual but indecision.

William James

If you put off everything ‘till you're sure of it, you'll get
nothing done.

Norman Vincent Peale

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.

Benjamin Franklin

Introduction

When we react to a situation, we can/we’ll
possibly behave in three ways:

· action · inaction · non-action

Action is a ‘process
of doing something to make something happen’; inaction
is ‘lack of action/ not doing something about
a situation’; non-action is
‘absence of action’. There is an element of involvement
in ‘action’ or ‘inaction’— performing or not performing. Whereas non-action, by
its very nature, is a non-involvement one; when we see two persons fighting, we
either go our way or simply watch; we don’t wish to embroil (=involve) ourselves.

An action or act is ‘a thing someone does’.
This may or may not involve decision-making. We perform certain acts at subconscious
level:

· reflexive act— which
is performed without conscious thought

· instinctive act— which
is a natural tendency to behave in a particular way

using knowledge and abilities we’re born with

· impulsive—which is a strong
urge/desire to act (without thinking).

There is no decision-making occurring in
these subconscious acts. We say, ‘Ouch!’ in pain when we stumble or trip
over a stone. We recoil in fear when we see a snake. Both are reflexive acts.
If I’m accused of embezzlement, I instinctively deny it. When we see a child
weep, we impulsively take her in our arms, saying, ‘Now, now, don’t cry,
there’s a good girl!’

There are situations where we take quick
decisions. Practically, there is no process of decision-making. Here we are
governed by

As against this, there are situations where we don’t
take decisions at all. Practically there is no process of decision-making. Here
we are governed by

· indifference—no interest in (not)taking a decision

· inertia __no desire
to (not) take a decision

· no motivation—no reason to (not) take a decision.

When we don’t take a decision either way, we are drifting.

But there are acts that occur at conscious
level and therefore involve decision-making. Decision-making automatically
implies choices from which we select one. We look at a situation, we
think about it—what it implies, what is expected of us, what choices we have,
what results are definite, probable or possible—desirable or not desirable,
whether, if these are desirable, how desirable they are, how they would impinge
on others, us and/or the future. We think, analyze, we argue for and against,
we weigh, we judge and then decide to take action, not to take action.

Let’s quickly summarize:

act
/ action

|

|

-------------------------------------------

|
|

subconscious
conscious

(no decision-making)
(decision-making)

___________|__________________ ____|______________

| | | | | | |

reflexive instinctive impulsive
drifting action inaction non-action

Decision-making and what it implies

Now that we’ve got an overall background picture, let’s move on to
‘decision-making’.

A decision emerges from engagement of heart alone, of mind alone, of
both mind and heart. It indicates a final choice from a given number of
choices/options.

As an individual, you take decisions in two capacities:

· as an individual

· as a member of a group.

As a individual, you initiate the
process of decision-making in areas that affect you personally—habits, manners,
education, use of free time, job, hobbies. Now, you are either subjective
or objective. You are subjective when you’re influenced by your
feelings, tastes, opinions and ignore hard facts or evidence to decide whether
to act or not. You are objective when you’re not influenced by your
feelings, tastes, opinions but when you analyze and weigh hard facts and
evidence to decided whether to act or not.

conscious

decision-making

|

________________

|
|

action inaction

________________

|

____________________|_______________

| | |

subjective ®® both ¬¬ objective

| | |

heart mind and
heart mind

(emotions,
feelings,) (cold
logic and reasoning)

Delay in decision-making

When you are in the process of decision-making, it’s very possible
that you’ll find it difficult to take a quick decision because you may delay
or procrastinate. There could be any number of ‘obstructors’ in coming
to a decision:

|

· lack of self-confidence

· too little or too much knowledge

· inexperience

· getting stuck in analysis of situation

· peer pressure

· prejudices

· images in your mind of:

others (wrong/inadequate/poor) and

· constraints like cast, status in society, position in
hierarchy.

‘Can I do it?’ is a good question to ask yourself, but if you keep
asking for longer than necessary or too often, you’ll only be generating
self-doubt. Which is not a good thing. It is important, in fact vital,
for you to believe in yourself and your ability to make decisions without
taking too much time. Taking time to think is a positive sign because you want
to be sure you make the right decision. But if you decide after a considerable
period of time, it’s possible that such a delayed decision may do more harm
than good. Making decisions without undue delay, moving ahead and making
progress are possible only if you have confidence in yourself.

If you feel you don’t have sufficient information about a situation
or people involved in that situation, you become unsure of what to do. For
instance, you fear you’ll be conned into buying a useless car if you have
little knowledge about cars. Conversely, being an expert on cars can lead to an
undue delay resulting in no purchase. Because the mental chart of plusses and
minuses of each ‘make’ you draw up can confuse more than clarify.

You’ll begin to doubt your ability to make right decisions if you
feel ‘experience’ is an essential qualification. And you may not be willing to
rely on the experience of others. Bringing up children is one area where some
young parents find it difficult to go about
parenting.

When you want to decide on a certain action, you may have several
choices to choose from. You begin to analyze each choice in detail, what
each can offer, how beneficial each would if chosen, whether the benefit would
be temporary or permanent, and so on. If you carry this analysis too far or for
too long, you could experience what is known an ‘analysis paralysis’. Your mind
gets paralyzed because it is filled with so much information that it is no able
to sift information and arrive at a conclusion.

Peer pressure results when you receive advice, comments, suggestions
from friends, colleagues, family, relatives. Everybody’s help seems genuine,
and this delays making a decision.

‘Prejudice’ is an unreasonable liking or dislike or preference for a
person, group, custom etc., especially when it is based on race, religion, sex
etc. You’d rather not accept help from someone because you’re prejudiced
against him/her.

You form negative impressions or opinions, over the years, of people
because of some bitter experiences in the past, because they don’t belong to
your cast or community, because they are lower or higher in status or
hierarchy. These can cause delay if you have to deal with them before making a
decision.

More often than not, you may know you’re unable to come to a
decision but you may not know what’s causing the delay. If this is true in your
case, the above discussion can help you identify the source for delay and deal
with it quickly enough to avoid the delay.

William Shakespeare, the master playwright
that he is, used ‘delay in decision-making’ as the running theme and gifted the
world with one of its greatest tragedy plays ‘Hamlet’. With his ‘to be or not
to be’, Hamlet, the lead character, epitomizes ‘procrastination’ (delay in
making a decision).

The chances for making the right decisions are bright if you decide
on a structured approach, that is, if you make a plan.

There are four benefits to decision-making
planning:

1. You have your goal(s), the probable time
duration, the probable cost involved,

personnel you need, the resources you have and you’ll need, the
method(s) to employ,

written down clearly, precisely.

2. Such planning gives a clear purpose and
direction. It can work as your mirror to

measure how close (or far) you are from accomplishing your goal. This
measure is

important because it can show you immediately when you are off course
and need to

make adjustments and corrections.

3. Planning is a tool to translate an idea
into a specific action or a series of actions. It

gives focus and direction.

4. Though planning needs time, it’s a time
spent well because it will prevent squandering

of time during the actual process.

Decisions affecting a group

The word ‘group’ can refer to a team as
large as a company/firm or as small as a group of, say, three members.

When decisions are to be taken that will
affect the working of a group, four decision modes are available:

1. You take the decision (autonomy).

2. You delegate the responsibility of the
decision to an individual or a group of

individuals (delegation).

3. You need ideas/inputs from the group (consultation).

4. You involve the members in the process (consensus).

Choose ‘Autonomy’ if

you have sufficient expertise and
information, you have information that mustn’t be shared, time is a constraint,
the problem will not significantly affect the relationship between you and the
group. Routine rules and regulations and certain policy matters will need
autonomous decisions.

Choose ‘delegation’ if

you are not an expert and an expert is
available. ‘Specialized’ activities like ‘market trends’, HRD are examples.

Choose ‘consultation’ if

you feel you need inputs from the members,
you think collaborative thinking is preferable.

Choose ‘consensus’ if

you think active involvement of the group
is necessary for acceptance of the decision and for its effective
implementation. Involvement of representatives of ‘workers’ is desirable here.

A few employees may form a group for the purpose of deciding on the
fate of a specific short-term activity, you initiate the process of
decision-making (if you are a leader) or join others in the process of
decision-making regarding issues that affect job-related situations involving
you and your shareholders, you and your customers, you and provider of
jobs/tasks, you and your employees/colleagues. The obvious inference is that you
are not alone, and, whether you initiate or join, the process involves
others besides you; to that extent, you’re governed, controlled, constrained by
the thought processes of others. You must learn to be cooperative, to be
understanding and to even compromise.

Decision-making techniques

You’ll see below a list of ‘techniques’. You’re only being
introduced to them. For more information, you’ll have to either browse the
internet or visit a library.

1. Paerto Analysis

· Write down the activity for which a decision is necessary.

· List the choices that come to your mind.

· Apply a score appropriate to the aptness of each choice.

· Choose the one with the highest score.

2. Paired Comparison Analysis

This helps consider the relative importance of different courses of
action. It helps you decide on one priority over the others when they all seem
equally important.

3. Grid Analysis

· List your options as ‘rows’ and the factors as ‘columns’.

· Award weights to each factor.

· Score each option for each factor using numbers from 0(poor) to 5
(very good).

This is a useful technique for weighing pros and cons of an issue.
This will help strengthen the forces supporting a decision and reduce the
impact of opposition to it.

6. Six Thinking Hats

This technique was developed by Edward deBono. It takes into account
diverse thoughts, including emotions of participants, it encourages them to
look at a situation from various vantage points or different
perspectives/angles. It helps the group to perform a well-balanced act through
its approach and analysis.

The six hats of the technique represent six
different styles of thinking, and it is thus a comprehensive tool to arrive at
a right decision. The different styles allow members to mentally tick off as
many perspectives as they need to view the situation from. They do not classify
the thinkers but only represent categories of thinking behavior, as members
wear particular parts. The purpose of the hats is to direct thinking. It is most
likely to inspire creative, inspiring thinking, similar to word association.

What the hats represent

The six hats are named after colours:
white, yellow, black, red, green and blue.

¨White represents facts and figures.

Wearing this hat, you relate the present problem to past
trends/experiences from a

historical perspective, gather information and data relevant to the
problem or

situation, present these to the group and maintain a neutral position.

¨Yellow represents positives, pluses, values and benefits.

Wearing this hat, you look at the problem from a logical and positive
point

of view.

¨Black represents negatives, minuses, losses.

Wearing this hat, you look at the problem from a logical and negative
point

of view. You concentrate on negative aspects—what risks there are and
what

could go wrong.

¨Red represents emotions, gut feelings, intuition.

Waring this hat, you react to the problem emotionally or
intuitively.

DeBono is quoted as saying, ‘Emotions are an essential part of our
thinking

ability and not just something extra that mucks up our thinking.’

¨Green represents creativity.

Wearing this hat, you think out of the box and offer original ideas or

hypotheses.

¨Blue represents control over the thinking, organizing
ideas shared, arriving at

How the hats actually work

The leader can decide who should wear which
‘hat’ for he/she may know the thinking strengths of each member; or he may
invite members to choose the ‘hat’. What is important is that they should do
full justice to the concept underlying the ‘hat’ they choose. The leader
acquaints the members with the problem or situation, knows who wear which hat,
sets a time limit, listens to them, and then takes a decision.

Mind MappingIntroduction

Mind
Mapping is especially valuable in generating alternatives. The mind remembers
structures and pictures much better than it does sentences, words or bullet
points. It is a visual tool. It helps show the
structure or shape of a topic and the branches as the linkages between the
details. If you’re making a presentation, it will help your audience understand
and appreciate your thinking process. It also allows you to keep track of the
raw data or facts.

Mind Mapping can be done as a group, or as
a means of individual brainstorming.

How Mapping functions

· Title

Write down the title of the subject in the center of the page and circle
it.

· Branches

Draw lines as branches to indicate major sub-headings.

· Sub-braches

For each sub-heading, think of ideas and draw branches.

· Work quickly

Put down thoughts in
single words or brief phrases, without evaluating them.

· Pictures and colours

Draw relevant pictures
if you can. Or simply use different colours for easy reading.

This technique is useful when you wish to explore and understand a
new idea or a product. You start asking questions with ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘why’,
‘where’, ‘when’, ‘how’.

Take a paper and draw a star in the middle and put down the idea or
product inside. Write each ‘wh-’ expression inside the star. Now ask as many
questions as you can for each ‘wh-’ expression outside the star. Until you’re
satisfied you’ve asked enough questions.

Now you can answer all these questions so that you get a clear
picture of what you’re thinking about.

Here all members express their thoughts before they meet as a
group. As such, they can make useful contributions as they will not be
overpowered by bullying; they cannot hide themselves behind others’ skirts and
so will have to take active part.

To make this possible,

1. the task or problem is
presented to all members individually,

2. they are given
sufficient time to apply their mind to the task,

3. a core group of two
members is formed and they discuss their thoughts,

4. a third member is
added, he/she presents his/her thoughts before he/she hears their

ideas for further
discussion,

5. another member is
added to the group for similar activity and

6. the members together reach
a final decision after an open discussion.

About Me

I hail from Thamizh Nadu, a Southern state of India. I speak Thamizh, Thelugu, English and Hindi.

I served for 43 years as a teacher of English in schools and colleges in India, Ethiopia and Nigeria. I've published several articles on ELT and of general interest in the USA, Ethiopia and India. I've presented several papers in national and international conferences. I've written several course books for the English syllabuses of Bachelor of Engineering of Madras University, Anna University and JNTU, Hyderabad, for public consumption as well.